The words hang there while he reads on, cross-checking and confirming with his own instincts.
I see the moment it clicks.Not comfort or approval.Clarity.The world isn’t simple.Monsters wear many faces, and sometimes the scariest mask keeps the real heroes hidden.
“Let me get this straight.”Wolf slumps in the chair.“They play the villain so the villains don’t see them coming.”
“Exactly.If you’re wondering why Matias Restrepo personally answered my call, it’s because you don’t ignore people who can tell the difference.”
“This changes things.”
“It doesn’t.It explains them.”
“No wonder you traded your life to them.They’re hunting predators, killing them, and protecting girls who’d otherwise disappear.That’s basically your whole résumé.”He lifts both eyebrows, half-grin, half-disbelief.“Bet you couldn’t sign up fast enough.”
Anger ignites so fast it snaps my teeth together.
“This isn’t a punchline.”I slam my fist on the table.
He stills.
“I didn’t want this.I fought it.For fucking years.”I surge to my feet and shove my hands in my hair.“I tried every other path.Every angle.Every shadow route that didn’t end with them.Then you came along, and I was suddenly out of excuses.”
“You made the decision believing Dove would be safe with me.That she’d be protected.”
“Yeah.I surrendered my life to the cartel with the conviction that I wouldneverdrag her or you into it.”
“Oh, shit.”Understanding flares in his eyes.“The night you sneaked onto the island, when you said goodbye…”
“Yeah.I’d just signed myself over.”
“Fuck.You were really fucking leaving.Severing ties forever.”He exhales, stunned.“You didn’t want us anywhere near this.”
“No, I fucking didn’t.The consequences aren’t theoretical.They’re permanent.”I tap the screen and meet his eyes.“Everything I’m showing you makes you a target.If they know you understand this, really understand it, you’re exposed.”
“So they treat their vigilante secret like contraband.Got it.”
“I’m the only outsider who knows the true nature of their operation.”My heart hammers.“And now you.”
“Why does the Capo of Consequences want me to come with you?”
“He collects deadly skill sets.”
“I kill bad family members.My mother.Dove’s father.Is that my flex?”
“You took down Adrian Crowe with a hidden razor blade in your mouth.”
“Sure did.”He brushes imaginary dust off his shoulder.
“As much as I hate it, you’re dragged into this, and I need you to be prepared.I want you to read the inner circle’s histories, memorize their faces and aliases, and know their weaknesses.Because keeping you in the dark isn’t protection.It’ll just get you killed slower.”
“I hear you.”He refocuses on the screen, seeing the implications clearly now.“Say it again for my sanity.They won’t hurt Dove?”
“They won’t touch her.Most of them have been tortured by the worst monsters imaginable.”I take control of the keyboard and pull up a diagram.“This is the org chart of the inner circle.Twenty-two trauma-bonded members, each with their own horror story.”
He scans the chart I painstakingly compiled over the years, his attention landing on the unexpected anomalies.
“What does this mean?”He points to the labels attached to nine of the members.“They all sayQuiso Slave,followed by a number.”
“Van Quiso is a former human sex trafficker.Over the span of his inglorious career in Texas, he had nine sex slaves.They’re all active vigilantes in the cartel’s inner circle.”
